As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in deep shades of violet and crimson, Rael and Vhal’Zar made their way to their lodging. To make up for the incredibly awkward and chaotic incident in the testing chamber earlier, the guild’s front receptionist had eagerly to recommend the best inn right away.
It was called the Moonlight Inn, located just a short walking distance from the main guild hall.
The moment they pushed open the heavy oak doors, the ambient chatter inside the inn’s tavern suddenly quieted down. Dozens of adventurers turned their heads, their eyes locking onto Vhal’Zar’s pristine armor. The rumors of a mysterious, monstrously strong warrior achieving an immediate A-rank had already spread through Greenvale like wildfire.
Ignoring the stares, they approached the wooden counter where the innkeeper was currently busy wiping down a glass cup.
"Welcome to the Moonlight Inn, our newest rising star," the innkeeper greeted them with a knowing, respectful grin.
Rael could only offer a faint smirk. 'Man, rumors really do travel fast in a small town.' He cleared his throat lightly. "Good evening, mister. My friend and I would like to check in for the night. How much will it be?"
"Do you lads care for some dinner as well?" the innkeeper asked warmly, sliding a laminated parchment across the counter. "We have plenty of fresh, hot meals prepared tonight."
Rael picked up the menu, scanning the fantasy names of the dishes. Because he had no idea if the culinary tastes of this medieval world aligned with the modern palate of Earth, he decided not to gamble. "Mister, just give us whatever your top recommendation is. Bring us the most delicious platters you have, please."
"Right away! That will be a total of five silver coins, including the rooms."
Rael reached into his cloak and casually placed a single, gleaming gold coin on the counter. The innkeeper’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of pure gold. "Excellent. Your change will be ninety-five silver coins, sir."
Nodding politely, Rael swept the silver coins off the counter, subtly sliding them straight into his spatial inventory system rather than a regular pocket.
While waiting for their meals to be prepared at a quiet table, Rael noticed his companion's stiff posture. "Vhal, you seem unusually quiet. Is something on your mind?"
Vhal’Zar shifted his sharp, blue-ringed eyes toward Rael, speaking in a low, controlled baritone. "Ah... it is nothing severe, Master. It is just that I have been discreetly analyzing the statuses of the adventurers residing in this room. Their average levels are incredibly pitiful ranging only between Level 1 and Level 179."
Vhal’Zar let out a soft, disappointed sigh. "In fact, the highest-level entity I have encountered on the surface so far is that Saint from earlier. Her level hovers around 101 and her royal guard aprox from to 120-179"
Rael raised an eyebrow. He hadn't bothered to check anyone’s status earlier because he had been far too preoccupied with keeping a low profile. Intrigued by Vhal'Zar's data, Rael quietly focused a subtle current of mana directly behind his retinas, activating his peak-tier analysis skill.
[Peerless Insight]
In an instant, detailed status boxes invisible to the mortal eye materialized above the heads of every adventurer in the room, displaying their classes, levels, and base stats. Just as Vhal'Zar said, they were thoroughly low-level.
Rael frowned slightly. 'Hmm, that’s odd. If the average strength of humanity on the surface is this low, then how on earth did the Cataclysmic Badlands and those Level 1500 world bosses completely disappear over the last thirty thousand years?'
Breaking his train of thought, Vhal’Zar leaned in slightly. "Master, do you happen to know what specific skill that Saint utilized to perceive us earlier?"
Rael then remember trough his vast memory and instantly know it “The skill she used is called [Soul Gauge]. It’s a rare, high-tier visual trait that allows a user to dissect a target's level, default class, and baseline attributes by peering directly into the wavelength of their soul.”
Rael took a sip of his water, a confident smile playing on his lips. "But of course, the reason she couldn't detect our true power precisely is because of our Rings of the Mortal Mirage, combined with our manual aura suppression. Her basic skill simply couldn't pierce past those two heavy layers of concealment. If an entity truly wants to bypass our rings and see our max-level forms, they would have to possess a skill like [Peerless Insight]-which can completely shatter any illusion or disguise without the target ever realizing they are being scanned."
Vhal’Zar nodded with immense, profound understanding. Even though he didn't possess the transcendental insight skill himself, his absolute trust in his master's supreme intellect reached a new peak.
Feeling a bit bored while waiting for the food, Rael playfully focused his eyes on Vhal’Zar, testing his active skill on his companion's human disguise just to see how the status readout altered.
Vhal’zhar
Class : Primordial summon
Level : 3478 (Undead King)
Status: [Disguised as human - active]
STR: 745,098
AGI: 687,993
INT: 3,587,990
CON: 982,273
WIS: 1,128,854
MAN: 13,892,774
Skills
………
……..
……..
Right as Rael closed the screen, a cute young maid wearing a pristine white apron approached their table, carrying two steaming, heavily loaded platters.
"H-Here are your orders, sirs," she stammered, her voice incredibly nervous. She stole a fleeting glance at Vhal'Zar's chiseled features before her eyes darted over to Rael. "I... I hope you guys enjoy the food!"
Rael blinked, completely oblivious as to why the poor girl had suddenly become so flustered. "Ah, thank you very much," he offered a bright, polite smile.
The maid’s face instantly flushed a deep, bright red. She squeaked out a nod and hurried back toward the kitchen to continue her duties. From a few tables away, the quiet, high-pitched murmurs and giggles of several female patrons drifted straight into Rael's sharp ears.
"Kyaaa! Look at them! That handsome man in the knight armor looks exactly like a royal prince straight out of a fairytale!""Ah! But did you see the guy sitting beside him? He has such a charming, breathtaking smile! They must absolutely be high-ranking nobles traveling from a foreign kingdom. My heart is beating so fast just looking at them..."
Hearing the compliments, a proud, immensely satisfied smile spread across Rael's face. His mood, which had been stressed all day, instantly turned fantastic. For the first time since being transmigrated into this new world, he was finally being recognized and adored for his physical appearance rather than being treated like an invisible, overworked office drone.
He rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Come on, Vhal! Let's dig in while it's hot. This food smells amazing!"
Late At Night
The bustling noise of the tavern had completely died down, replaced by the quiet, serene chirping of crickets outside. Rael and Vhal’Zar had retired to their respective, private rooms on the second floor.
Earlier, Vhal’Zar had fiercely whined and protested, adamantly arguing that as a loyal guardian, he should sleep in the exact same room to guard his master's body. However, Rael, thoroughly creeped out by the idea of sharing a bed with a guy, had angrily ordered him to get his own room. Luckily, they had kept their argument incredibly quiet, so Rael hoped no weird rumors would sprout among the inn staff by tomorrow morning.
Lying down on the surprisingly comfortable bed, Rael stared up at the wooden ceiling, his mind finally calming down as he reviewed the monumental events of his first full day.
He had successfully established a baseline identity, and just gather information in the library and didn’t know tomorrow Is she would show up or not,
Right as he was about to close his eyes and drift off to sleep, a faint, localized ripple of movement caught his attention. A subtle, unfamiliar aura was lingering just outside his bedroom window.
Rael didn't feel even a microscopic shred of worry about an enemy trying to ambush him. Having already scanned the abysmal average power levels of this town, he knew that even if a master assassin managed to plunge a mythical dagger into his chest while he slept, the blade would instantly shatter against his skin. His draconic physiology was an absolute statistical fortress viciously tough, yet deceptively smooth to the touch.
Still, he was curious as to why anyone would approach him at this hour. 'Should I confront them or just ignore it? Hmm...' Letttling out a soft sigh, he decided it would be more entertaining to confront them.
Opting not to use his loud, flashy magic, Rael relied on a pure physical combat art instead. His body instinctively remembered the precise neural pathways required to execute the technique. It was a high-tier agility skill unlocked exclusively after passing a massive attribute threshold.
[Flicker Stride]
(Cooldown: 1.5 seconds)
Flicker.
In a literal fraction of a millisecond, Rael’s physical form vanished from the bed, bypassing the window entirely. He materialized instantly on the roof outside, standing directly behind the cloaked figure crouching in the shadows.
Rael reached out and casually tapped the figure's shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?"
Panic struck the assassin like a lightning bolt. Shocked to his very core, he spun around instinctively, drawing a jagged, poisoned blade and slashing it violently toward Rael's throat. Rael didn't even flinch. With absolute, lazy ease, he raised his index finger, catching the razor-sharp edge right on his fingernail.
Clang!
The metal groaned under the block. Rael smirked. "Ooh, that’s a sharp one."
Out of the corner of his eye, Rael noticed a second silhouette instantly sprinting away across the rooftops, attempting to flee the scene. Without missing a beat, the 1.5-second cooldown reset. Rael blurred into motion once more.
[Flicker Stride]
Flicker.
In the blink of an eye, Rael appeared directly in the flight path of the escaping scout. "Wow. Arriving uninvited and then leaving without saying goodbye? How incredibly rude," Rael murmured.
Before the intruder could react, Rael’s hand shot out like a crushing vice, grabbing him tightly by the throat. Terrified, the assassin began to thrash wildly, throwing a relentless barrage of heavy punches and kicks against Rael’s torso. But to the scout's absolute horror, impacting Rael's body felt exactly like striking an unyielding, solid mountain wall.
Wanting to keep this interrogation entirely private, Rael focused his mana outward, shaping it into an invisible, soundproof barrier around the rooftop.
[Telekinesis]
With a flick of his wrist, the telekinetic force dragged the first assassin over, pinning both intruders hovering helplessly in mid-air. Rael’s calm golden eyes suddenly flared, a mesmerizing, deep crimson glow swirling within his pupils as he activated a high-tier mental sub-skill.
[Charm]
The foreign, hypnotic mana invaded the assassins' minds, instantly crushing their willpower and forcing them into a state of absolute, blank obedience.
"Who sent you both?" Rael commanded, his voice echoing with a subtle, inescapable authority.
Under the spell's absolute thrall, the first assassin spoke with glazed eyes. "The Saint..."
Immediately after, the second assassin muttered, "Baron Vance..."
Rael let out a long, weary sigh. 'Haaaah... the Saint, huh? I guess she sent a scout because of the massive ruckus Vhal and I caused downstairs earlier.' He then turned his piercing gaze toward the second captive. "And it looks like I’ve already attracted the attention of another local prick. Haha... Who exactly is Baron Vance?"
The second assassin answered automatically. "He is a ruthless debt collector... and the undisputed second powerhouse ruling the underworld of this small town."
"Then why is he suddenly interested in an E-rank nobody like me?" Rael asked, genuinely curious.
"Because you casually pulled out an impossibly expensive, high-purity potion at the counter without a care," the scout droned.
Rael pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out another defeated sigh. 'Damn it. I knew flashing that basic stamina potion would lead to some annoyance, but I didn't expect the local mob to move this fast.'
Looking at the two paralyzed, brainwashed scouts hovering before him, Rael decided he didn't want to overcomplicate his night. He raised his hands, a soft white light enveloping his palms.
[Erase Memory]
The spell smoothly wiped away any recollection of the last thirty minutes from their minds, leaving them completely blank about Rael's terrifying capabilities. Using a gentle current of telekinesis, Rael quietly deposited their unconscious bodies into a dark, empty alleyway a few blocks away from the inn, making it look as though they had simply fainted from exhaustion.
Brushing the dust off his cloak, Rael slipped back through his bedroom window. He climbed back into his comfortable bed, a genuinely amused smile playing on his lips as he closed his eyes.
He honestly couldn't wait to see what the Saint would do when they met face-to-face tomorrow.